Sleepless Nights
by dead last hero
Summary: Much to Hikaru's dismay, he never dropped his habit of kicking Kaoru off the bed they shared every night. Can they both ever get a good night's sleep? [Twins]
1. Chapter 1

"What's wrong with my brother!" one of the eccentric Hitachiin twins cried out with frustration after all their guests had exited the music room in which they spent one to two hours of their precious day.  
The rest of the members of the now closed Host Club stared at the eccentric twin, cradling the head of his fast asleep brother in his lap.  
Kaoru Hitachiin clearly had a problem. He was falling asleep in the car, in class, in the locker room, in the lunchroom, in the library, and, most unacceptable of all, during his duties at the Host Club. He was now, at this very moment, fast asleep using Hikaru's lap for a pillow.  
Hikaru. Who, for once in his life, was the root of Kaoru's misery.  
Kyouya pushed his glasses up like the expert that he was, and suggested that the slumbering twin be awakened for discussion of the current state of his health and, no doubt, how it effected the influx of money to the club.  
Kaoru sat up groggily. "People! For five seconds I would like to get some sleep!" he responded grumpily.  
Hikaru wrapped his arms around his twin immediately. "What's wrong with you! Are you okay?" He was probably being overdramatic. Everyone had no problem letting him know.  
"Hikaru, calm down."  
"Lets discuss this rationally."  
"Kao-chan will be okay!"  
"Kaoru! Do you need to borrow Kuma-chan!"  
"……"  
Kyouya took the initiative, as usual. "Kaoru, are you getting sick? You seem to be overly tired. One awake and one sleeping twin is not good business."  
"I'm not sick." He gazed up at his troubled twin's face. "I just….haven't been getting any sleep. On the floor." he stated.  
"Kao-chan shouldn't sleep on the floor! He should sleep in a bed! Right, Takashi!"  
"Mitsukuni is right."  
The small, rather innocent boy obviously didn't get the implication. Neither did the larger, idiot of a president.  
"Its dumb of you to sleep on the floor, you know." Tamaki commented.  
The genius scholarship student knew better. "Don't you two share the same bed?" Haruhi asked. "Is Hikaru pushing you off?"  
Hikaru recoiled in shock. He honestly thought that he had quit that habit a long time ago.  
Kaoru sighed. "Its less pushing and more kicking." he looked apologetically at his brother. "I'm not getting any sleep because you thrash around in your sleep and kick me off the bed." He very slowly and gently put his arms around his twin and brought him close. "I didn't want to tell you…I didn't want you to be upset."  
Hikaru felt tears gather in his eyes. He'd been kicking his beloved brother off the bed every night and did not know it. "Kaoru…."  
"This is so sad and tragic!" Tamaki dramatically joined in on the hug. It made it less enjoyable.  
Haruhi, commoner of unfathomable reason and intelligence, made a grand point. "As soon as you all stop being sappy, I'm sure we can solve this problem."  
They all stared at her. Such a brilliant mind.  
Soon, a tidy list was compiled for Kaoru and Hikaru to take home and begin the tedious task of trial and error.

That night, as the twins changed into their pajamas, they consulted item one.  
"MORE STUFFED ANIMALS!" -Hunny  
Neither of the sleepy twins had understood why this would remotely make a difference. The pink bunny toting senior was happy to explain.  
"If more fuzzy stuffed animals are sleeping with Hika-chan, it will be so much more comfy! Then, instead of kicking Kao-chan off the bed, he can kick the stuffed animals off!" He was then promptly upset by the idea of kicking stuffed animals and had to be revitalized by a quite large piece of strawberry cake.  
The twins broke into the boxes that contained their childhood and dumped all their old stuffed animals on the bed. It was easy to fill the large bed they shared, considering there were two of every animal they had ever owned.  
"Is there room for us?" Hikaru asked skeptically.  
Kaoru wasn't sure. He pushed aside two tigers, a pair of armadillos, and a lone Superman plushie. "We'll manage."  
Kaoru tried to manage. As usual, they fell asleep almost exactly the same time, yet Kaoru was roughly awakened a mere half hour later by Superman's midnight flight right into his face. He sat up and looked over at his brother, who promptly threw a raging hippo plushie right at his head.  
"Hikaru…Hika-" THUD. "Ow." Looks like he was going to be getting up close and personal with the floor again tonight.

Night two and counting, they consulted the list again.  
"Tie him to the bed." -Tamaki.  
The twins laughed hysterically. They were remembering when Tamaki had suggested this idea.  
"Its an obvious solution." he had said, rather knowingly. "You just tie him to the bed. He can't kick you if you tie him to the bed."  
The twins had stared at him. "You know, we're not into that kind of thing." "You really ARE the S&M King."  
After one look from Haruhi, Tamaki enjoyed the dark corner for a good ten minutes.  
Hikaru got into bed and Kaoru straddled him, a soft chord in his hands. Hikaru cracked a grin. "And how much time do we spend convincing people we don't do this at home?"  
Kaoru matched his devious look. "We don't. Look who has the rope." They laughed until Hikaru was securely fastened.

Likewise, Hikaru was fast asleep in Kaoru's lap after club ended.  
"How was it last night!" Tamaki asked impatiently.  
"That's a personal question, senpai. Don't be a pervert." Haruhi warned him.  
Tamaki pouted royally. "Haruhiiii! How can you say that about Daddy!"  
Hikaru sat up. "If you wanted to KNOW, your idea worked great and Kaoru got lots of sleep." He was lightly snoring again approximately 5 seconds later.  
Kaoru sighed. "Guess you don't get any sleep while you're tied to a bed."

Round three. Night three. Attempt three at ultimate twin happiness.  
The list. "Various Sedatives." It was proposed by Kyouya. He had explained carefully all the things that apparently, made people tired. Warm milk. Peanut butter. A warm environment. A warm bath, relaxed muscles. "The more tired he is physically, the less he will want to expend the energy to kick at you in the middle of the night."  
Hikaru flopped onto the bed, his hair still damp from his warm bath. He had run around the perimeter of their house twenty times right before bed, in addition to using natural and medicinal sedatives. "I feel more tired than I've ever been in my entire life." Hikaru, with effort, turned to look at his brother. "I'm sorry." he said quietly. Kaoru looked up from the magazine he had been browsing through. Looking into Hikaru's face was like looking into a mirror, only the mirror was hurt and apologetic. Kaoru couldn't help but feel the way that the face looked.  
Hikaru was already fast asleep.  
Somehow, Kaoru minded a little less when his face ate carpet a few hours later.


	2. Chapter 2

The twins used the list again hesitantly. They were beginning to wonder whether any suggestions from anyone in the club were going to work, or just make things worse.  
Mori's suggestion had been next. Tamaki had bothered to write down the only two words that frequently came out of the quiet boy's mouth.  
"….." and "Mitsukuni."  
"I'm sleeping over at Kao-chan and Hika-chan's house!" Hunny ran around their room excitedly, fully decked out in light blue chickie pajamas. He even wore socks that cheeped when he walked. It was so cute it almost hurt.  
"I don't see how having Hunny-senpai sleep with us is going to help." Hikaru threw out as a suggestion. Hunny's eyes got all teary and Kaoru stopped the flood by pushing him towards the bed.  
It was awkward. It was like, sleeping with an oversized stuffed animal. That made cute noises in its sleep. And smelled like frosting.  
Apparently, that didn't stop Hikaru. Who knew that a small senior could fly so far across the room.

Kyouya pushed his glasses up, absorbing the situation. Hunny was asleep on Takashi's lap, and Kaoru asleep on Hikaru's. "The amount of victims has doubled. Can't you two figure something out?"  
Hikaru brought out the list that they had angrily crumpled several times. "Well…"  
"Bereznef knows how."  
There was a shriek from Tamaki as a dark presence loomed into the room.  
Everyone cowered in fear.  
"Bereznef will put a curse on Hikaru, then-"  
"I don't want a curse, Nekozawa senpai! I want to stop kicking Kaoru, not to die!"  
Hikaru pulled out a flashlight, aimed it expertly, and the creature of darkness fled.  
Tamaki came out from behind Haruhi. He opened his mouth to comment, but an extremely loud whirring noise started coming from the floor below them.  
Kaoru was awakened by the racket. They all knew what was coming.  
"How sad and tragic! Two brothers are plagued by their midnight struggles! What can they do?" Otaku alert.  
"We can probably do it without your help, Renge." Kaoru mentioned.  
Renge put her arms around them both. "Such beautiful drama. We can only assume Hikaru is kicking Kaoru off the bed because deep down, he no longer wants him there! Yes! He wishes to take the bed for himself, and can only act out his feelings in unconscious displays of anger!" She began to descend back into her hole. "How? How will they resolve it?"  
Hikaru rolled his eyes, yet caught sight of his brother's face.  
It was slightly tormented. "You…don't want to sleep with me anymore?"  
Ouch. The rest of the club watched intently.  
"I never said that! I don't think that!" Hikaru protested. He reached for his twin, and Kaoru avoided his touch.  
Double ouch.  
Enter Haruhi, resolution extraordinaire. She held the list out to them. "You haven't tried my idea."  
"Sleep in two different beds." -Haruhi.

The twins didn't speak to each other for the remainder of the evening. It made their parents very, very nervous. They were either mad at each other, or plotting something. Neither of which could be any good.  
They had the maids set up two beds in their room, across the room from each other.  
Kaoru buried his face in his pillow as the lights went out. This bed was cold. Wherever he stretched his legs or arms to, all he felt were sheets. They smelled like laundry detergent and felt rough. Nothing warm, nothing soft, and no rythmatic breathing to lull him to sleep. He pulled his face out of the pillow and tried to adjust his eyes to the darkness. He eventually could make out the form of Hikaru, lying on the other bed. Kaoru eyed the rising and falling of his chest carefully. He despairingly buried his face back in his pillow. "He didn't want to sleep with me anymore after all." he thought.  
"I'm not asleep." Came the immediate response from the other bed. There was a rustling of sheet and blankets. Kaoru didn't know whether to smile or cry.  
An hour or two passed. Hikaru had been staring at the glow in the dark stars they had plastered on the ceiling when they were little. He sighed and pulled the blankets closer. No matter what he did he couldn't get warm.  
Hikaru hesitated with his words. Kaoru must be asleep by now.  
"Kaoru?"  
"What?"  
Hikaru breathed a sigh of relief. "We're 16 years old."  
"Its normal to sleep in two different beds."  
"I'm cold."  
"Me too."  
"….."  
"You can come over if you want."  
"I'll kick you off."  
"…its okay."  
Hikaru stood over Kaoru's bed a minute later. "This bed is too small for the both of us." he said. He'd practically have to sleep on top of his brother for it to work.  
"I have an idea." Kaoru got out of his bed. With Hikaru's help, he pushed it across the room until it was next to the other.

"…so you just pushed the two beds together and you slept fine?" Tamaki was trying very hard to understand what went on.  
"Yes!" They both responded enthusiastically.  
"If we were in separate beds, Hikaru wouldn't kick me off."  
"But we can't sleep unless we're in the same bed."  
"So it was one big bed made of two separate beds," they chimed in together.  
Kyouya scribbled in his notebook furiously.  
Hunny offered them a congratulations cake.  
Mori said nothing.  
Tamaki tried for the rest of the day to understand why it worked.  
Haruhi smiled. The simplest idea was the best after all.

The Host club is now open for business.


End file.
